Circassian pronouns

In the Circassian language, pronouns belong to the following groups: personal, demonstrative, possessive, interrogative, reflexive, determinative, and indefinite.

Personal pronouns

In Circassian, personal pronouns are strictly expressed only in the first person and second person in singular and plural forms.

Circassian does not have gender-distinguishing pronouns. Unlike most languages, it does not have "traditional" third-person pronouns (he, she, it, they). The concept of the third person is expressed using demonstrative pronouns.

Case	1st Person (I / We)		2nd Person (You)
	West (Adyghe)	East (Kabardian)	West (Adyghe)	East (Kabardian)
Singular
Absolutive	сэ[sa]	сэ[sa]	о[wa]	уэ[wa]
Ergative	сэ	сэ	о	уэ
Instrumental	сэркӏэ	сэркӏэ	оркӏэ	уэркӏэ
Adverbial	сэрэу	сэрэу	орэу	уэрэу
Plural
Absolutive	тэ[ta]	дэ[da]	шъо[ʃʷa]	фэ[fa]
Ergative	тэ	дэ	шъо	фэ
Instrumental	тэркӏэ	дэркӏэ	шъоркӏэ	фэркӏэ
Adverbial	тэрэу	дэрэу	шъорэу	фэрэу

Examples:

West	сэ	о	усэплъы
East	сэ	уэ	усоплъ
	I	you	I am looking at you
"I am looking at you."

West	мы	ӏофыр	сэркӏэ	къины
East	мы	ӏуэхур	сэркӏэ	гугъущ
	this	work	for me	hard
"This work is hard for me."

Demonstrative pronouns (3rd Person)

Circassian uses demonstrative pronouns to fulfill the role of the third person. Unlike English "he", "she", or "it", which are abstract references, Circassian pronouns are spatial—they point to "that one" or "this one".

There are three main demonstratives, distinguished by distance and visibility:

• а (Neutral/Invisible): Refers to someone/something not visible, abstract, or mentioned previously.
• мы (Proximal): Refers to someone/something visible and close to the speaker ("this one").
• мо (Distal): Refers to someone/something visible but far away ("that one over there").

Forms

A major difference between West and East Circassian appears in the Oblique/Ergative case: West uses -щ (-ɕ), while East uses -бы (-bə).

Case	Neutral (He/She/That)		Proximal (This)		Distal (That yonder)
	West	East	West	East	West	East
Singular
Absolutive	ар	ар	мыр	мыр	мор	мор
Ergative	ащ	абы	мыщ	мыбы	мощ	мобы
Instrumental	ащкӏэ	абыкӏэ	мыщкӏэ	мыбыкӏэ	мощкӏэ	мобыкӏэ
Adverbial	арэу	арэу	мырэу	мырэу	морэу	морэу
Plural
Absolutive	ахэр	ахэр	мыхэр	мыхэр	мохэр	мохэр
Ergative	ахэмэ	абыхэм	мыхэмэ	мыбыхэм	мохэмэ	мобыхэм
Instrumental	ахэмкӏэ	абыхэмкӏэ	мыхэмкӏэ	мыбыхэмкӏэ	мохэмкӏэ	мобыхэмкӏэ
Adverbial	ахэрэу	ахэрэу	мыхэрэу	мыхэрэу	мохэрэу	мохэрэу

Examples:

West	мор	о	уимашинэ
East	мор	уэ	уи машинщ
	that (visible)	you	your car
"That is your car."

West	ащ	къысиӏуагъэр	мыщ	есӏотэжьыгъ
East	абы	къызжиӏар	мыбы	жесӏэжащ
	that one (erg.)	the thing (s)he told me	this one (erg.)	I told him back
"I told this person the things that person told me."

West	ахэмкӏэ	мы	джанэу	мощ	щыгъэр	дахэ
East	абыхэмкӏэ	мы	джанэу	мобы	щыгъыр	дахэщ
	for them	this	shirt	that one	wearing	beautiful
"According to them, the shirt that person is wearing is beautiful."

Reflexive pronouns

Circassian has specific reflexive pronouns used when the subject and object are the same person (e.g., "He hurt himself"). These are primarily used for the third person.

Case	Singular (Himself/Herself)		Plural (Themselves)
	West (Adyghe)	East (Kabardian)	West (Adyghe)	East (Kabardian)
Absolutive	ежь	езы / ежь	ежьхэр	езыхэр
Ergative	ежь	езым	ежьхэмэ	езыхэм
Instrumental	ежькӏэ	езымкӏэ	ежьхэмкӏэ	езыхэмкӏэ

Example:

West	ежь	сэ	къысиӏуагъ
East	езым	сэ	къызжиӏащ
	himself	I	(s)he told me
"He told me himself."

Possessive pronouns

Possessive pronouns indicate ownership ("mine", "yours"). In Circassian, these are distinct from the possessive prefixes attached to nouns.

Case	1st (Mine/Ours)		2nd (Yours)
	West	East	West	East
Singular Possessor
Absolutive	сэсый	сэсей	оуй	уоуэ/уий
Instrumental	сэсыемкӏэ	сэсеймкӏэ	оуемкӏэ	уоуэмкӏэ
Plural Possessor
Absolutive	тэтый	дэдей	шъошъуй	фий
Instrumental	тэтыемкӏэ	дэдеймкӏэ	шъошъуемкӏэ	фиймкӏэ

Examples:

West	мы	джэгуалъэхэр	сэсиех
East	мы	джэгуалъэхэр	сэсейхэщ
	this	toys	they are mine
"These toys are mine."

West	мо	унэ	плъэгъурэ	сэсый
East	мо	унэ	плъагъури	сэсейщ
	that	house	seeing	mine
"That house you are seeing is mine."

West	мыр	оуя	ежья?
East	мыр	уоуэ	хьэмэрэ езым ей?
	this	yours?	is it his?
"Is this yours or his?"

Possessive Prefixes

Possession is a key grammatical feature in Adyghe. Unlike independent possessive pronouns ("mine"), these are prefixes attached directly to the noun. Nouns are divided into two categories based on the relationship between the possessor and the possessed:

• Inalienable (Organic) possession: Used for things that cannot be separated from the possessor (body parts, family, intrinsic positions).
• Alienable (Proprietary) possession: Used for transferable property, objects, and concepts.

Note: This distinction is strictly maintained in West Adyghe. In Eastern Circassian (Kabardian), this distinction has largely disappeared, and the "Alienable" prefixes are used for almost all nouns.

Inalienable possession

In West Adyghe, inalienable possession is marked by short prefixes attached to the noun stem. This category includes:

• Body parts: e.g., head, heart, leg.
• Kinship terms: e.g., mother, brother, daughter.
• Name:ыцӏэ
• Part-whole relations:ычӏэгъ (its under), ыкӏоцӏ (its inside), ыпэ (its front/nose).

Person	Prefix		Example (Head)
	West (Adyghe)	East (Kabardian)	West (Adyghe)	East (Kabardian)
1st Sing	с- / сы-	си-	с-шъхьэ	си щхьэ
2nd Sing	п- / у-	уи-	п-шъхьэ	уи щхьэ
3rd Sing	ы-	и-	ы-шъхьэ	и щхьэ
1st Plur	т- / ты-	ди-	т-шъхьэ	ди щхьэ
2nd Plur	шъу-	фи-	шъу-шъхьэ	фи щхьэ
3rd Plur	а-	я-	а-шъхьэ	я щхьэ

Alienable possession

Alienable possession is used for separable items, such as property, animals, concepts, and material objects. In West Adyghe, these prefixes involve the additional vowel -и- (-i-). In Kabardian, these same prefixes are used for almost all situations.

Person	Prefix		Example (House)
	West (Adyghe)	East (Kabardian)	West (Adyghe)	East (Kabardian)
1st Sing	си-	си-	си-унэ	си унэ
2nd Sing	уи-	уи-	уи-унэ	уи унэ
3rd Sing	и-	и-	и-унэ	и унэ
1st Plur	ти-	ди-	ти-унэ	ди унэ
2nd Plur	шъуи-	фи-	шъуи-унэ	фи унэ
3rd Plur	я-	я-	я-унэ	я унэ

Interrogative pronouns

Interrogative pronouns correspond to English Wh-words.

Meaning	West (Adyghe)	East (Kabardian)
who	хэт	хэт
what / which	сыд	сыт
why	сыда	сыт щхьэкӏэ
where	тыдэ	дэнэ
how much	тхьапш	дапщэ
which one	тары	дэнэ
when	сыдигъу	сыт щыгъуэ

Examples:

West	хэт	къэкӏуагъэ?
East	хэт	къэкӏуар?
	who	came
"Who came?"

West	сыд	кӏалэм	ыцӏэ?
East	сыт	щӏалэм	и цӏэр?
	what	the boy	his name
"What is the boy's name?"

West	непэ	тыдэ	ущыӏэщт?
East	нобэ	дэнэ	ущыӏэну?
	today	where	you will be
"Today where will you be?"

Indefinite pronouns

The main indefinite pronoun is someone/something.

Case	Singular		Plural
	West	East	West	East
Absolutive	зыгорэ	зыгуэр	зыгорэхэр	зыгуэрхэр
Ergative	зыгорэм	зыгуэрым	зыгорэхэмэ	зыгуэрхэм
Instrumental	зыгорэ(м)кӏэ	зыгуэр(ым)кӏэ	зыгорэхэ(м)кӏэ	зыгуэрхэ(м)кӏэ

Examples:

West	зыгорэ	пчъэм	къытеуагъ
East	зыгуэр	бжэм	къытеуащ
	someone	door	knocked
"Someone has knocked the door."

West	кӏалэ горэм	бэнанэр	ешхы
East	щӏалэ гуэрым	бананэр	ешх
	some boy	banana	eats
"Some boy is eating the banana."

West	пшъэшъэ	дахэ горэм	мыр	къысиӏуагъ
East	пщащэ	дахэ гуэрым	мыр	къызжиӏащ
	girl	some pretty	this	(s)he told me
"Some pretty girl told me this."

Indicatory pronouns

Indicatory pronouns are predicative forms used to say "It is X".

Meaning	West (Adyghe)		East (Kabardian)
	Cyrillic	IPA	Cyrillic	IPA
it is me	сэры	[sarə]	сэращ	[saraːɕ]
it is you	оры	[warə]	уэращ	[waraːɕ]
it is him/her	ежьыр	[jaʑər]	аращ	[aːraːɕ]
it is us	тэры	[tarə]	дэращ	[daraːɕ]
it is you (pl)	шъоры	[ʃʷarə]	фэращ	[faraːɕ]
it is them	ежьхэр	[jaʑəxar]	ахэращ	[aːxaraːɕ]
that is it	ары	[aːrə]	аращ	[aːraːɕ]
this one is	мары	[maːrə]	мыращ	[məraːɕ]
that one is	моры	[morə]	моращ	[moraːɕ]
exactly that	джары	[d͡ʒaːrə]	аращ	[aːraːɕ]

Examples:

West	сэры	къэшъугъотын	фае
East	сэращ	фызылъыхъуэн	хуейр
	it is me	to find	necessary
"The one you must find is me."

West	ары	къысиӏуагъэ
East	аращ	къызжиӏар
	that is	what (s)he told me
"That is what he told me."

Dialectal variations (Shapsug)

The Shapsug dialect of West Adyghe preserves specific demonstrative forms that differ from the standard literary language. These include the specific proximal дымы ("this one right here") and the specific distal дымо ("that one way over there").

Case	Specific Proximal (This here)		Specific Distal (That over there)
	Cyrillic	IPA	Cyrillic	IPA
Singular
Absolutive	дымыр	[dəmər]	дымор	[dəmor]
Ergative	дымыщ	[dəməɕ]	дымощ	[dəmoɕ]
Instrumental	дымыщкӏэ	[dəməɕt͡ʃʼa]	дымощкӏэ	[dəmoɕt͡ʃʼa]
Adverbial	дымырэу	[dəməraw]	дыморэу	[dəmoraw]
Plural
Absolutive	дымыхэр	[dəməxar]	дымохэр	[dəmoxar]
Ergative	дымыхэмэ	[dəməxama]	дымохэмэ	[dəmoxama]
Instrumental	дымыхэмкӏэ	[dəməxamt͡ʃʼa]	дымохэмкӏэ	[dəmoxamt͡ʃʼa]
Adverbial	дымыхэрэу	[dəməxaraw]	дымохэрэу	[dəmoxaraw]

Dialectal Examples:

дымощ	ицуакъэ	ышъо	олъэгъуа?
[dəmoɕ	jət͡sʷaːqa	əʃʷa	waɬaʁʷaː]
that over there (erg.)	his shoe	its color	do you see it?
"Do you see the color of that person's shoe over there?"

дымор	кӏалэу	къысэуагъэр
[dəmor	t͡ʃʼaːɮaw	qəsawaːʁar]
that over there (abs.)	boy (adv.)	the one that hit me
"That is the boy that hit me over there."

Dialectal Indicatory Forms:

дыморы	кӏалэу	сфэсӏуагъэ
[dəmorə	t͡ʃaːlaw	səfasʔʷaːʁa]
that is over there	boy (adv.)	the one I talked about
"Over there is the boy I talked about."

References

Bibliography

• Аркадьев, П. М.; Ландер, Ю. А.; Летучий, А. Б.; Сумбатова, Н. Р.; Тестелец, Я. Г. Введение. Основные сведения об адыгейском языке в кн.: "Аспекты полисинтетизма: очерки по грамматике адыгейского языка" под ред.: П. М. Аркадьев, А. Б. Летучий, Н. Р. Сумбатова, Я. Г. Тестелец. Москва: РГГУ, 2009 (Arkadiev, P. M.; Lander, Yu. A.; Letuchiy, A. B.; Sumbatova, N. R.; Testelets, Ya. G.
• Introduction. Basic information about Adyghe language in "Aspects of polysyntheticity: studies on Adyghe grammar" edited by: P. M. Arkadiev, A. B. Letuchiy, N. R. Sumbatova, Ya. G. Testelets. Moscow, RGGU, 2009) (in Russian) ISBN   978-5-7281-1075-0